Chicago, that toddling town

Posted by Bob on September 14, 2003

In Reply to: Chicago, that toddling town posted by irene robinson on September 13, 2003

: : : : Does anyone know why Chicago is that toddling town? I know it's in the song lyrics but where did it come from? Thanks...

: : : I thought maybe it was from the imagination of Fred Fisher, who wrote the song, but I took a walk at lunch, and by gosh, we all toddle.

: : Maybe from too many glasses of Johnnie Walker at lunch?

: I always imagined it referred to Chicago being a new-ish city (i.e. toddling - toddler - young child)?

A little of all of those. Chicago (for those not familiar with it) is the largest city in America. New York is the largest New York, L.A. is the largest whatever-it-is, but Chicago is the largest city IN America. And it is a place where (at least when the song was written, and in popular imagingation still, where people (hey, many of them conventioneers passing through) who drink a bit too much, where one still walks/toddles around at all hours, where the rough-and-tumble life is celebrated and encouraged. Chicago exists for commerce; nobody comes here for the climate. Sidelight: some years ago, when the Chicago and San Diego baseball teams met in the playoffs, the San Diegans dismissed Chicagoans as "sausage-eaters," something we noted with puzzled pride. Bet your bottom dollar you'll lose the blues in the city described by Nelson Algen in these immortal words: it's 'Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real."

• Chicago, that toddling town Lotg 30/September/03